Week 12

Randall Jarrell

           Randall Jarrell was born in California, raised by his paternal grandparents and great grandparents. At the age of 12 he moved to Tennessee and finished high school there. He was supposed to go to secretarial school in order to work in his Uncles candy firm.  Instead he ended up at Vanderbilt University.  He later taught English at Kenyon College  and at the University of Texas.  From 1942-1946 he served in the U.S Army Air Force.  He uses his military experience in many of his finest poems.  He last taught at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina.  He remained here the rest of his life.  I did not find his style of poetry very interesting. They were all a bit hard to follow and understand.  After I read Losses a few times, I could clearly see the poem is about war.   I think it’s an analysis of the soldiers die in any war.  They really don’t   know who they are killing and although this is an underlying reason, it isn’t really always the belief of the soldiers.   If they lasted long enough through the war, they were given medals, but is being rewarded for killing others really that great?  I was not very fond of the poem, The poem A Girl in a Library.  I had a hard time following and finding the meaning.  I can see its about a girl who is studying maybe a subject she doesn’t really like or want to study.  The last poem we read In Montecito. Randall Jarrell seems very disappointed in having to witness the ending of a life.  It sounds as if  a lady has died. After she dies everything is thrown away like it never mattered to anyone.  Someone else is now sitting in her seat at the cricket match.  All his poems were very odd to me.

Sylvia Plath

            Sylvia Plath had a hard life.  She was born in Massachusetts to a German father and Austrain mother who she often wrote about in her poetry.  She was said to be a brilliant and erratic child.  At the age of seventeen she was able to publish her first poem and a short story.   She had severe mental problems which she often wrote about.  After entering Smith College on a scholarship she was filled with apprehension of horror and death and felt obsessed with isolation and entrapment.  How very sad to be so talented yet trapped in your own world suffering.  The first poem The Bee Meeting I am not quite sure what is going on.  I can compare it to her maybe being in a hospital and she is explaining it as a meeting.  But I see possible Doctor’s and nurses coming at her all gloved and  covered, yet she is naked maybe on a Dr’s table. I think maybe she was being put in some sort of protection suit for herself and in solitary confinement.  The Poem Daddy was such a sad read. Her dad died at the age of 10 and I think she couldn’t ever get past that.  It sounds as if he was very strict to her and she hasn’t forgotten it.  Since he was then dead she could not ever question or talk to him to sort out her own feelings. She had a lot of rage toward her father for leaving her.  She compares the Nazis destroying their world and how her father has destroyed hers in a way.  I think she also find her husband and tries to mold him into the father she never had.  And he also leaves her, but this time she is able to control that rage.  All her poems are very sad to me.  I wish she could have gotten proper help to work through her issues.  To take her own life at such a young age is so sad.

James Baldwin

Sonny’s Blues

            James Baldwin was also known as one of the most important American black writers of the twentieth century.  He was the oldest of nine children and was born and raised in Harlem.  He grew up being dominated by his stern father who was the minister of a storefront church.  At 14 Baldwin underwent a spiritual experience and began to preach in competition with his own father. The story we read Sonny’s Blues   turned out to be a pretty good read. It’s basically about two brothers who are 7 years apart and have their differences, but in the end they are family and need each other in their lives and come to terms that they are different and learn to accept that and be a family again. The two boys grow up with their mother in a poor neighborhood.  The oldest brother goes off and joins the army, during that time their mother passes away and Sonny lives with his big brothers wife and family. He ends up with a bad crowd and becomes addicted to heroin.  He realizes his problems and joins the Navy against his brother’s advice.  After a long gap of 7 years with no communication between the brothers they are brought together again because the older brother’s daughter has died and Sonny was in a drug program being rehabilitated.  They exchange letters and upon Sonny’s release he returns to live with his big brother and family.  Sonny always had a  gift and fascination for music which his brother thought was a waste of time. Sonny invites his brother to a nightclub in order to see him play the piano. At this time the big brother finally accepts Sonny for who he is and can understand him a bit more. It was very sad the Sonny had his music taken from him, what he loved most was gone, his mother and his music. Maybe if they had a better relationship and could lean on each other none of the problems with drugs would have happened.